The Super Seniors
By Valencia Stevenson | Published by April 15, 2019
“Super Senior” is a term for students who take more than four years to finish college.
Georgette Carter-Nobles, a “super senior” who is majoring in Asian Studies and Music calls herself such because she has been at Kean for five years. Starting in Fall of 2014, Carter-Nobles said that the reason she has stayed here is because her classes kept getting cancelled. She also changed her major. Now, she hopes that next semester will be her last at Kean.
The 22-year-old student heard the term “Super Senior” in her freshman year at Kean. She had a few friends that have been at the school longer than four years call themselves that and since then, Carter-Nobles has adopted the term, she said.
“Honestly, I had a plan when I first came in here and now I just don’t have a plan at all,” she said. “My original plan was to be a Chinese translator and go to China to translate everything, maybe go to the government. But at this point I have no idea because I picked up a second major around my junior year which is music, I feel like my first major is kind of wavy because of how my classes are.”
Carter-Nobles said in her time here, there are new buildings and the people have changed. She stated that the new students that arrive to Kean have gotten a little bolder such as the Game Room at the Miron Student Center, where she works. For instance, people have gotten louder and there is more diversity which is something she was not used to before.
“You get used to it. Different personalities. They’re more out there. I wouldn’t say it’s bad but it’s just different, and I feel like that’s just life. You just have to keep going and deal with it,” said Carter-Nobles.
Teshaina Abernathy started at Kean in the Summer of 2014 and this is not her last semester either.
“I only use the term super senior jokingly because I know that being here longer doesn’t devalue anyone,” said the 23-year-old Theatre major. After she graduates, Abernathy hopes to regularly go to auditions, record music and, in her downtime, work retail jobs to sustain her living for a while.
“There have been major changes to Kean including more food options on and off campus, better computers, and dorming options and we have a few changes to our visual aesthetics like the new statue and pavement in front of the Miron Student Center,” said Abernathy.
Mikael Pena, 22, began pursuing his mathematics degree in Fall 2014. Pena has one more semester before graduating.
“Because I’m old,” Pena joked when asked why he calls himself a super senior. “Credits wise I am a senior but there is still more for me to do. I have more growth to learn.”
Pena said he hopes to get a job after he graduates, make some money and try to go for his Masters. He also wants to continue being in good and healthy relationships with other people.
“Kean has changed in two ways. One, the people. People have either grown significantly in maturity or they got less intelligent as the years gone on. With more on infrastructure, we got different buildings.”